New Cobb County commission map segregates voters, senator charges

State Sen. Steve Thompson, D-Marietta, in an AJC file photo from 2012.

A bill that will redraw district lines for the Cobb County Commission is an attempt to maintain GOP influence by segregating black and white voters, a white state senator from Marietta is charging.

HB 1028, sponsored by state Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, won final passage in the Senate on Wednesday.

State Sen. Steve Thompson, the Democrat from Marietta, notes that the legislation takes 11,000 minority voters out of District 2 (South Cobb), represented by Republican Bob Ott, and places them in District 4 (Southwest Cobb), represented by Democrat Lisa Cupid.

The shift will have the effect of limiting African-American voting influence to a single district in the county for the foreseeable future, Thompson said.

Thompson said he was surprised Cupid, the lone Democrat on the Board of Commissioners, didn’t object to the map.

“Yeah, you’re going to be safe, but you’re going to be part of this new segregation,” Thompson said. “It’s like these new cities they’re introducing all over north Atlanta. What they’re doing, we’re going to have lily white districts and black districts. And whether we debate the lunch counter again 20 years from now, I don’t know. It may not be racial on some people’s part, but the net effect is.”

Some health skepticism is required here. A January poll by Insider Advantage showed Deal at 44 percent and Carter at 22 percent. An AJC statewide poll at about the same time gave Deal 47 percent to Carter’s 38 percent. IA pollster Matt Towery points to Deal’s problems with a late January snowstorm, the first of two, for the Republican incumbent’s dip in popularity.

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House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, on Thursday endorsed former state Rep. Elena Parent for State Senate District 42, the seat being vacated at the end of the year by Jason Carter. That’s on top of support from several other House members. Parent faces Decatur attorney Kyle Williams in the Democratic primary. The Williams campaign points out that it’s toting endorsements from Atlanta City Council members Kwanza Hall and Alex Wan, and Jim Baskett, the mayor of Decatur.

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Gov. Nathan Deal signed the second bill of the 2014 legislative session on Thursday. Senate Bill 318, sponsored by state Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, authorizes the sale of adult beverages in bars on Sundays during the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah, Ga. The first bill, signed weeks ago, moved the state’s primary to May 20.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will give an address on the U.S. Constitution. We’re told he’s in favor of it.

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Eager to show that he can consolidate tea party forces ahead of the GOP Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun on Wednesday rolled out endorsements from tea party leaders and groups in Carroll County, Walton County, Hart County, Golden Isle and Northeast Georgia. On Thursday, Georgia Conservatives in Action – run by longtime activists Pat Tippett and Kay Godwin – chimed in with its backing, calling Broun “a tried, true, and trusted friend for the values that Georgians treasure.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey, considered a rival for the arch-conservative corner of the electorate, was apparently unfazed. On Thursday, the National Journal caught him on wandering over to the Senate side of the Capitol and chatting with Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. What was Gingrey doing in the upper chamber?

“I’m just measuring the drapes,” he quipped. But seriously, he was busy meeting a few folks he intends to be working with next year.

One Iraq war veteran came up to him in Brunswick, Isakson said, and said he bought a house two years ago for $89,000. The man showed Isakson last year’s flood insurance premium bill for $2,300, then this year’s for $23,200.

“It was an extreme case,” Isakson said, “but not an isolated case.”

The bill drew flak from conservative groups for bringing a heavy federal hand back into a program it was wriggling out of. Isakson said the previous Biggert-Waters bill in 2012 had the right idea but was too abrupt. The new bill caps most premium hikes at 18 percent.

The Senate won’t vote on the plan until the end of the month, as it’s taking a week off. Isakson said he had not seen the details so couldn’t say which way he’d vote, but that any unemployment extension must be paid for.

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Of all the people I worked with on the Hill, Rep. Phil Gingrey was - by far- the worst. He is the most misogynistic person I have ever had the misfortune to meet. This is a man who professes to "love women", was a doctor to them for years and yet still prefers to pat women on their pretty little heads and tell them not to worry about the problems in the big, bad world. The menfolk will handle it. No matter who runs against him in the primary or (God forbid) the General Election, whoever it is, they have my vote.

Obama finally puts Putin in his place: Quote: (the
Savior): Vlad, either you pull your troops out of Crimea and the Ukraine or I
will personally force you to enroll in ObamaScare." That's all it
took. Even here in the Palm Beach area we can hear the tank tracks
clanking and the hoof-beats of the Jack- Booted IRS as they (OOPS! I meant the
Russian Army) as they cower and withdraw. Now, THAT's a WORLD LEADER! "Mission
Accomplished!" Remember, the Taliban is on the run and has been
marginalized. WOW! What a leader!

Your Savior just made up for the egregious error on the part of Bush, sport. Bush should have said, "I told Vlad that I understood him; he believed me then 'cause I threatened to draw a red line in the sand that he was forbidden to cross."

Quote, an actual one and not just made up sh*t: (George Bush) "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and
trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of
his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests
of his country."

Thompson said he was surprised Cupid, the lone Democrat on the Board of Commissioners, didn’t object to the map.

“Yeah, you’re going to be safe, but you’re going to be part of this new segregation,” Thompson said. “It’s like these new cities they’re introducing all over north Atlanta. What they’re doing, we’re going to have lily white districts and black districts. And whether we debate the lunch counter again 20 years from now, I don’t know. It may not be racial on some people’s part, but the net effect is.”

Red states are dangerous states with lawmakers equally dangerous
to enact dangerous laws to drive home a point to exhibit conservatism--mrob

In another House vote which won't be mentioned here, today it voted to delay ObamaCare's individual mandate to buy
health insurance for a decade.

The vote was 238-181 with three Democrats breaking from their defensive
solidarity. Last week 27 Democrats voted for a one year delay. The
administration has already significantly chipped away at the individual
mandate like so many other requirements. On top of only having small
penalties taken from those who have tax rebates, they exempt those who
had their insurance canceled and added an undefined seemingly automatic
"hardship exemption" for those who apply.

@The_Centrist Once again our intrepid cub reporter has provided us with a newsflash on the House's continued efforts to set records for the most futile, useless and non-substantive votes in the country's history.

Just 5 more newsflashes from our cub reporter and he will get his authentic Jimmy Olsen Superman decoder ring, provided he has the required number of Rice Crispy box tops.

It's unfortunate that, for some reason, he can't start his own blog to bring us up to the minute recaps of those important stories like the 48th, 49th, and 50th vote to repeal Obamacare, For some reason Galloway doesn't see fit to report on these vitally important, earth shaking events taking place in the House.

@The_Centrist Yes, that would be the 51st time that the Republican-controlled House has voted to repeal or eviscerate the Affordable Care Act. Redundancy does indeed foster disregard; and that is something for which you obviously lack appreciation.

"U.S. Rep. Paul Broun on Wednesday rolled out endorsements from tea party leaders and groups in Carroll County, Walton County, Hart County, Golden Isle and Northeast Georgia. On Thursday, Georgia Conservatives in Action – run by longtime activists Pat Tippett and Kay Godwin – chimed in with its backing, calling Broun “a tried, true, and trusted friend for the values that Georgians treasure.”

I would say this is the best news that Michelle Nunn could receive this Pi Day - (not meant to be offensive - I know Broun believes science and, of course, mathematics are "straight from the pit of hell". Wow - some Georgians may treasure these values but no one I know and no one with a high school education. (Isn't Broun that fellow that insisted he could practice medicine even though he did not have a license?)

20 years ago all the liberals were insisting on segregated districts...they did't call them that, but referred to them as "majority Black" districts...so that Blacks were guaranteed to get elected. Make up your minds.

If there is a Carter-Deal debate(s), and I hope they do, I want the first
question to be asked of each candidate at the outset: Are you going to
push for and try to raise the State income tax during your
administration? Please answer with an unqualified response of Yes or No,
please. No ifs, ands, or buts, just a "YES" or a
"NO,"

Secondly (to Carter): Assuming the State Senate and House will remain under
Republican control, how do you intend to approach governing as Governor,
particularly with regard to taxes and expansion of Medicare in the state?

@MichaelHannigan I want the first question to be why is it that certain "people" like Gulfsteam Aerospace, Inc's (a subsidiary of General Dynamics) products are exempt from taxation, and evryday items needed by people who aren't corporations are taxed.

I make an 'assumption' that the property purchaser was either taking advantage of post-ray-gun era artificially low tax rates, inadequate estate taxes or the entirely false construction of taxing capital gains at rates lower than wages.

At least one of these is probably applicable to most coastal land purchase else we would see most of the property in the hands of wage earners.

By the way, which one of those 'enumerated powers' you like to hide behind allows for burdening the taxpayers with the most expensive military industrial complex in the universe?

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

The military industrial complex for the most part doesn't cost the government anything until they choose to make a purchase. We have the a burdensome military? Blame Obama, he has been president for over 5 years, he could have changed it. Blame Reid, if he had passed a budget he could have ben reduced.

What you are referring to in you reference to "subsidies to beachfront property flood insurance" might be better clarified by first knowing where this program came from:

The National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by the 80th. Congress
of the United States in 1968 through the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968
(P.L. 90-448).Both the House of
Representatives and the Senate were controlled by the Democratic Party.

@Retired-Soldier@honestedThe NFIB addresses a public need resulting from the inadequacy of the free market. The ACA addresses a public need resulting from the inadequacy of the free market. Rejecting one reflects inconsistency and callousness. Rejecting both reflects just callousness.